Old News

Claui brought me this trove of newspapers from the Twenties and Thirties. They'd been hidden beneath the liner paper of a cedar chest inherited from my grandmother.  CoryCat immediately knew that they'd been saved all these years just so she could sit on them.

Many of them were about the death of President Wilson, detailing his declining health and the approach of the Grim Spectre in flowery language . . .

But sometimes it's the little things that really bring the era to life . . .

The newspapers are from Montgomery, Troy, Jacksonville, Lakeland, and Tampa -- all places my grandfather would have visited in his rounds as a bank examiner.

A nice bicycle -- and I'm reminded that my grandfather referred to bicycles as wheels -- "Did you ride your wheel over to her house?"

Religious warfare -- everlasting...

I've seen furniture like this still in use . . . or for sale at low end antique (junque) shops.

A long ago tragedy . . .

I can almost hear the Sousaphones oom-pahing . . .

My Uncle Ed Dunbar makes the front page in Troy as he is named Rotary president. He was the husband of my grandmother's older sister and I remember him for several things. He demanded that children eat everything on their plates. If they didn't, the same plate with its crusty leftovers would be put before them at the next meal. He also ate sliced tomatoes for breakfast -- with a spoonful of sugar on each slice. My grandmother said it was because he was a Yankee. 

But the Troy, Alabama Rotary Club was able to overlook this failing.

On the same page, ominous sign of the growing world-wide financial disaster . . . that will play a part in the rise of Hitler.

When was the last time you saw pencils advertised in a newspaper?

Bank failures, Al Capone, missing sea flier . . . may you live in interesting times . . .

For Milady . . .

Another relative makes the news -- Charlie Wall is the black sheep in John's family. A Tampa crime boss, bootlegger, racketeer, and gangster, he came to John's mother's wedding but stood at the back so as not to cause alarm... 

There's a book about him -- The White Shadow -- by Ace Atkins.

Cigarette ads -- remember those?

And President Coolidge . . .

But just look at these classy voile dresses for as low as  $1.48!

The the era really comes alive, as I read these old papers.